Have you ever made a snap decision? How did it turn out?

Oh Dark Thirty

My reaction to this question on my favorite discussion website, RallyPoint, took me by surprise. “Have you ever made a snap decision? How did it turn out?” I reacted much like the cynical food critic in the Disney animated film Ratatouille when he ate the dish prepared by a rat and flashed back to his childhood.

This question elicited a similar response from me...

I flashed back to the moment when I came to a fork in the road just outside Denver. I was driving across the country without a plan looking for a new beginning. I had been dismissed unexpectedly from the Army and needed to find my place in the civilian world.

I left my wife and young son in Hawaii house sitting for a friend, picked up my car in Oakland where it had been shipped, and began my search.

I drove south to visit my brother in Thousand Oaks, California. Thus, my trip began with a purpose, but Southern California held no appeal for me.

The distance from Los Angeles to Denver in those days was a vast wasteland of mountains and desert. Neither contained much hope for a young Army captain without a resume, and by the time I reached Denver, funds were running low. Pressure was building for me to find something, anything. That's when I came to the fork in the road.

There was a sign. The road to the right, it promised, led to Denver. The one to the left leads to Denver's business district. 

Which one should I take?

I didn't have a clue.

I parked the car on the shoulder and pondered.

The fact that I lacked any criteria for making a decision made it impossible to be reasonable. 

I was so overwhelmed that I failed to even consider flipping a coin.

I don't know how long I sat there. The hitchhiker I had picked up for company seemed to sense the gravity of my situation and kept his peace.

Finally, I restarted the engine and turned left. 

It was a snap decision without basis.

How did it turn out?

How else?

That road led to the rest of my life. 

Some bad. 

At one point, my wife and I divorced. Well, it seemed bad at the time, then turned good.

Most good. 

I remarried, had more children, then grandchildren.

I learned a new career, then another, and another.

New adventures. Many new adventures.

Ultimately, rich and rewarding.

...and it all began with a snap decision at a fork in the road.

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[Note: Although RallyPoint is primarily oriented towards military personnel and veterans, their families and friends, many civilians who share their values participate. Check it out.]